After more than 12 hours of official silence, PoliceMinister Nathi Mthethwa confirmed that at least 30 people haddied in the security operation at the mine, 100 km (60 miles)northwest of Johannesburg.

Police opened fire with automatic weapons when 3,000striking drill operators armed with machetes and sticks ignoredorders to disperse.

Mthethwa said the death toll from the incident, which cut tothe quick of South Africa's post-apartheid psyche and sent worldplatinum prices more than two percent higher, was likely torise.

"A lot of people were injured and the number keeps on goingup," he said in an interview on Talk Radio 702.

Mthethwa defended the police, saying officers had come underfire from the miners, members of the Association of Mineworkersand Construction Union (AMCU), an upstart group that ischallenging the 25-year dominance of the National Union ofMineworkers (NUM), a close ally of the ruling ANC.

"From amongst the crowd, people opened fire on police andthe police retaliated," he said in earlier comments re-broadcaston the same station.

President Jacob Zuma said he was "shocked and dismayed" atwhat was one of the bloodiest police operations since the end ofwhite-minority rule in 1994.

After Thursday's mayhem, the presence at Marikana ofhundreds of police backed by armoured vehicles and helicoptersensured an eerie calm on the dusty plains around the mine,Lonmin's flagship platinum operation.

"There were no problems overnight. The problem is the hillover there where the shooting took place. I am not sure whatwill happen today," said Patience, a woman who lives in a shantytown near where the shooting place. She declined to give herfull name.

CRIME SCENE

Police crime scene investigators combed over the site of theshooting, which was cordoned off with yellow tape, collectingspent cartridges and bloodstained traditional weapons likemachetes and spears which were carried by the slain miners.

They said firearms were also recovered at the scene.

London-headquartered Lonmin has been forced to shut down allits platinum operations, which account for 12 percent of globaloutput, and its shares have fallen more than 13 percent sinceinter-union rivalry at Marikana boiled over a week ago.

South Africa is home to 80 percent of the world's knownplatinum reserves, but rising power and labour costs and a steepdecline in the price of the precious metal this year has leftmany mines struggling to stay afloat.

Prior to Thursday, 10 people - including two policemen - haddied in nearly a week of fighting between AMCU and NUM factionsat Marikana, the latest outburst of unrest from a rumblingeight-month union turf war in the platinum sector.

At least three people were killed in a similar round offighting in January that led to a six-week closure of theworld's largest platinum mine, run nearby by Impala Platinum. That helped push the platinum price up 15 percent.